Ramadan Night 7

Alms are for the poor

And the needy, and those

Employed to administer the (funds):

For those whose hearts

Have been (recently) reconciled

(To Truth); for those in bondage

And in debt; in the cause

Of Allah; and for the wayfarer:

(Thus is it) ordained by Allah.

And Allah is full of knowledge

And wisdom.

S.9 A.60

This verse tugs at my heart for many reasons.  It is another beautiful example of my faith that seems to be completely lost on my nation's leaders and their media allies. I don't know how anyone who has been in a Muslim community, or with Muslims, could mention the word Islam without a reference to generosity and charity.  It is an ignorance of titanic proportion - or maybe it just doesn't fit their motives, either way, it belies the notion that they are leading and informing a loving and intelligent country.

I don't know how many times I shared a family's meager meal in my village in Yemen, how many of the villagers cared from me when I had malaria, how many times I saw people of different races looking after each other kindly with no regards to reward or payment. How could anyone with an open mind and an open heart miss this?  Perhaps it is because these simple and poetic gestures are done with so little fanfare, so little concern for perceived gratitude.  Sadly, it may also be that the  recognition of this virtue is a poor foundation upon which to construct a terrorist, an enemy to all that is good and just in the world.

The truth of these words though, is buried in my heart.  I have mentioned before that I had always had a kindness, a goodness inside me, but that I had never embraced it.  I believe God had placed it there, and I also believe it was my salvation, for when I was ready to open my heart, I found these things waiting, waiting to bring me to Islam.  God is not teaching me in this passage above, he is merely releasing that which he had already  woven in my heart.